Training Notes for Brandon

Current Weight : 251 lbs
Current Height : 6’2.5

I work for a moving company part time. We run a very lean team so when I am working, the work is very hard. My diet has been shit up to this point. I have started teaching myself the correct way to feed myself but I’m not an expert so if you have good tips, please give them.

Last week I started going to the gym and walking on a treadmill at an incline for about two miles without holding onto any rails. I read that this helps with fat loss. That is my current goal right now, fat loss. Here’s the article:

I adopted the full body workouts as posted on at the following link.

This said it was a good way for a beginner to jump into weight training.

I walk during my off days for recovery.

Here’s my current workout for the next 3-6 months:

Hack Squat 3x10
Bench Press 3x10
Dumbbell Fly 3x10
Dumbbell Lateral Raise 3x10
Alternate Dumbbell Press 3x10
Cheating One Arm Row 3x10
Cheating Barbell Curl 3x10
Dumbbell Concentration Curl 3x10
Dumbbell Wrist Curl 3x10
Side Bend 3x10
Sit Ups 3x12

I typically have felt pretty sick by the time I get to situps. I’m assuming thats a good thing. I also have very small breaks inbetween the sets. Only about 45 seconds to a minute. Very sore. I average 8-9 hours of sleep a night.

First meal : 44 grams of protein, shake, 1 scoop of bare outmeal, ground up in a shake. 8th of a scoop of NO-Explode used simply for a pick-me up in the morning. A full scoop would send me into freak out mode.

Snack 2.5 hours later : Zone snack bar. 14 grams of protein and 210 calories total. 23 grams of carbs and 7 grams of fat.

Lunch: Typically a large house salad with fat free honey mustard dressing. A large chicken breast or salmon cut on top. Cucumbers, peppers, real bacon chopped up, one full hard boiled egg, shredded lettuce and spinach.

Snack 2.5 hours later : Zone bar

Dinner: Steak, chicken, or fish. Vegetables and water, or sugar free ice tea. (this has been the hardest meal of the day for me to stick to because my girlfriend cooks me dinner typically and I’m slowly phasing out her bad dinner choices)

Snack: Protein shake before bed.

Yesterday during the day we moved a house onto a 32 foot truck.

The house had four floors and most of the heavy furniture was on the 2nd, and 3rd floors. Plenty of walking up and down steps with furniture.

The interesting thing that I find is that my muscular endurance is very high but my strength is not where it needs to be for my size.

I was done with the move around 5 p.m and forced myself to go to the gym for my work out. I started adding a bit of weight to some of my lifts. I want to add weight to this program slowly so I can get used to the movements.

Here’s my workout with the weight this time.

Hack Squat 3x10 100 lbs
Bench Press 3x10 145 lbs
Dumbbell Fly 3x10 20 lbs
Dumbbell Lateral Raise 3x10 15 lbs
Alternate Dumbbell Press 3x10 30 lbs
Cheating One Arm Row 3x10 40 lbs
Cheating Barbell Curl 3x10 50 lbs
Dumbbell Concentration Curl 3x10 20 lbs
Dumbbell Wrist Curl 3x10 20 lbs
Side Bend 3x10 45 lbs
Sit Ups 3x12

It may not seem like much to most of you all, but it’s what I can do to get through my work out.

I will say that the hack squat is very awkward for me. Even with keeping my back straight, it feels like I’m on the verge of pulling muscles in my arms and pecks when I’m doing this exercise. I’m thinking about just hitting the squat rack to replace this exercise because i don’t feel I’m getting much out of it.

Breakfast: 44 Grams of Protein shake, cup of oatmeal, 1/4 scoop NO Explode.

Snack: Water, Zone Bar

Lunch: Southwest grilled Chicken Salad.

Snack: Zone Bar

Dinner: Spinach Salad with double chicken brest from subway with olives, tomatoes, banana peppers, green peppers, red peppers, cucumbers, salt, pepper, southwest dressing.

I was so full after dinner that I couldn’t manage to drink a shake before bed for fear of vomiting.

This is my birthday weekend so I am really going to try hard not to harm my body with too much liquor. At the very least, I can drink it straight.

My Birthday involved some pretty heavy vodka drinking. I’m not that proud of that. But the good thing is that I ate relatively well all weekend. I’ve been back to the gym twice this week so far.

I’ve noticed now that I’m out of the super sore stages of this full body training, I am able to start adding more weight to my routine. I am staying very busy during my gym time and only resting for less than a minute in between sets.

I made a modification to my diet which included changing the zone bars to the Pure Protein bars which is 20-21g of protein and 3g of sugar, 200 calories total.

I have also been doubling grilled chicken breasts on my salads at lunch and I changed dressings to an olive oil and vinegar mix. This gives it flavor and keeps it a bit more healthy.

I have weighed myself now that its been about 2.5 weeks and noticed that I’ve actually gained 2 lbs. I have been eating drastically different (in a good way) and have stayed strict to my diet. I feel better and have more sustained energy as well. Hopefully, the more muscle I build, the quicker the fat will go away. Here’s my work out with new weight amounts:

Barbell Squat 3x7 205 lbs
Dumbell Press 3x7 50-60-70lbs
Dumbbell Fly 3x7 25 lbs
Dumbbell Lateral Raise 3x7 20 lbs
Alternate Dumbbell Press 3x10 30 lbs
Cheating One Arm Row 3x7 50-60-65 lbs
Cheating Barbell Curl 3x7 65 lbs
Dumbbell Concentration Curl 3x10 20 lbs
Dumbbell Wrist Curl 3x7 20 lbs
Side Bend 3x10 45 lbs

At the end of last week, Friday or so, I began to feel very very on edge. My patience with people was very low. I think this had something to do with lack of carbs or calories. I worked out Friday evening and then went out to shoot some pool. I had a couple drinks and ate some non breaded barbecue wings. On saturday I went to the gym and walked a couple miles.

On Sunday, I stayed in the house and really grubbed out. I snacked on bad food most of the day. But Sunday night, I had some of the best sleep I’ve had in a while. In the morning, I woke up VERY focused and VERY refreshed. I’m wondering if it had something to do with what I ate on Sunday. Even though it was bad food, for some reason, Monday morning I felt amazing.

I didn’t work out on Monday night because I have a scheduling conflict on Mondays now. I’ve decided to shift my work outs to Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.

Last night I went to the gym and continued to up my weight on my lifts.

Barbell Squat 3x5 225 lbs
Dumbell Press 3x7 60-lbs
Dumbbell Fly 3x7 25-30 lbs
Dumbbell Lateral Raise 3x7 25-30 lbs
Alternate Dumbbell Press 3x10 35 lbs
Cheating One Arm Row 3x7 60-65 lbs
Cheating Barbell Curl 3x7 65 lbs
Dumbbell Concentration Curl 3x10 25 lbs (Almost impossible for me to finish)

My body is becoming harder, and my legs and arms are becoming more lean (less body fat in those areas, But I continue to gain weight. I weighed myself at 256 yesterday. I feel like my diet is actually pretty good. I have had my weak moments (on average once a week) but 90% of the time I’m doing what I’m supposed to.

I think I need to really start to measure my body fat percentage as a better indicator, instead of guessing. I’ll get on that today and report back thursday.

I have used a number of online body fat calculators and they say that my body fat percentage is over 30%.

That actually really surprises me because I don’t look obese. But regardless, this is a good measure for me to work from. I hold all of my weight below my rib cage and above my belt line. When i stand straight up, my belly doesn’t hang over my belt, but it probably sticks out two or three inches. It’s very disgusting to me, and I will work on getting things back in order. I’m curious if I should incorporate cardio to my workouts as well? Just to lose body fat?

Good job starting a log. You and I are about the same height (6’4" went from 300 to 190 back to 225 when I began lifting) so hopefully I can help you out as much as I can. You are definitely right on track with lifting and wanting to do some cardio for recovery and fat loss. As far as your slight weight gain, that could mean you are gaining muscle and as a result your pants will fit better but the scale will say otherwise. Full body workouts are definitely the way to go when wanting to lose fat and gain some strength and muscle. .

As a suggestion I would take out some of the isolation movements and focus on the big lifts and hit them with more intensity. The Arnold Golden Six option would be the best way to go but that’s just my opinion. There will be a time and a place for concentration curls and flyes later down the road. Also with your physically demanding job I would stick with the biggest bang for your buck exercises since I’m sure recovery can or will be an issue as you progress forward.

I had some really good success with fat loss when incorporating kettlebell work (if you have access to them) and sprints (hills or flat) as conditioning instead of walking or jogging. One last thing is I would check the sugar content on your Zone Bars. I’m not familiar with them but I know most protein bars contain lots of sugar and hidden ingredients that hinder fat loss. My wife and I love Quest Bars a lot. They are packed with protein and contain lots of fiber with hardly any sugar. You are on the right track and keep up the good work.